A BOND THAT’S A CUT ABOVE
The Barber of Seville co-stars forged their friendship long before being cast for the opera,
Singers Joshua Hopkins and Alek Shrader have a standing date to watch Game of Thrones together.
The baritone and the tenor, who work in the highbrow world of opera, bring their mezzo-soprano wives along to indulge in their regular pop culture treat. They also share the enjoyment of home-cooked dinners, a fondness for smoky scotch and a competitive game of Wii Beatles: Rock Band.
These singers are friends in real life and onstage in the Canadian Opera Company’s The Barber of Seville, opening Friday.
“We continue our bromance offstage,” jokes Shrader.
Barber is a “buddy opera” in which Figaro (Hopkins) helps his rich friend, Count Almaviva (Shrader), win the girl of his dreams.
Shrader sees the count as a man “consumed by innocent love” who has all the money he needs to launch a winning romantic campaign. Figaro, who is a barber but so much more with his many wily skills, gets hired to help land the lovely Rosina.
“He’s the master, I’m the servant,” explains Hopkins, adding, “I’m the brains of the operation.”
The entertainment world is awash in buddy teams and the two singers playfully list their favourite duos.
After tossing around Mel Gibson and Danny Glover ( Lethal Weapon), Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, Wayne and Garth ( Wayne’s World) and the Blues Brothers, they agree their favourite is Toy Story’s Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
The friendship began five years ago when they met in a Santa Fe production of Albert Herring.
“That’s the first time Josh told me he loved me. His character had to say it, but I could tell he was really feeling it,” says Shrader, 33, as the two kid around through an hour-long interview.
They’ve also performed in The Magic Flute together with Shrader playing Tamino and Hopkins his helpful assistant Papageno.
Hopkins, 36, who was born in Pembroke, Ont., and now calls Houston home, says the two like to explore restaurants when they find themselves in the same city. For the run of Barber, Hopkins has rented a home with a billiards table and games room so there have been lots of visits from the Shraders.
Shrader, from Oklahoma, doesn’t have a home base but travels from city to city on assignments. This is his premiere performance with the COC while Hopkins has already played in La Bohème here. Because one is a baritone and the other a tenor, they never compete for roles and can be cast in the same productions.
When asked how close they are, Shrader puts Hopkins “in the top four” of his friend list, which doesn’t stop Hopkins from saying, “Alek is No.1. Actually, my wife is No.1, Alek is No. 2.”
By the end of the interview, they’ve decided they are most like comedy team Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, with Shrader adding, “But we’d both be Dean Martin.”
For Barber of Seville, the artistic concept, theatrical direction and visual design have been created by theatre troupe Els Comediants, which brought its giddy vision to the COC’s production of Cinderella in 2011.
The COC says the Cubism-inspired set plays with scale and proportion, while bursts of colour and innovative lighting conjure a fantasy world hov- ering between fairy tale and vaudeville.
Rossini’s comedy, which premiered in 1816, is based on Pierre Beaumarchais’ Le barbier de Séville.
Rory Macdonald will conduct the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in the familiar music, which has been featured in TV shows, most famously the Bugs Bunny cartoon “The Rabbit of Seville.” The Barber of Seville is at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, until May 22. Go to coc.ca for tickets.